Commission Approves Gender Proposal

By

Frances Robinson

Nov. 14, 2012 8:22 a.m. ET

BRUSSELS—The European Commission approved a proposal on Wednesday to engineer higher female representation on corporate boards, although the rules don't stipulate automatic fines for companies that fail to comply.

The directive requires that women account for 40% of nonexecutive directors at companies listed on stock exchanges in the European Union. Private companies will have until 2020 achieve this goal, while public companies—over...